Product description

The hit BBC series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, offers a fresh, contemporary take on the classic Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and has helped introduce a whole new generation of fans to the legendary detective. The debut episode took as its inspiration the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet - and this edition of Conan Doyle's novel will allow Sherlock fans to discover, or re-discover, the power of that classic story. A Study in Scarlet is the genre-defining work with which popular crime fiction was born. A potent mix of serial murder, suspense, cryptic clues, red herrings and revenge, the novel introduces us to the world-famous characters of Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson and Inspector Lestrade and sees Sherlock and Dr Watson meet and join forces for the first time as they track a mysterious killer that stalks London's streets. In addition to the original text, this edition also has an introduction by Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, who explains how it inspired the Sherlock script.

Author information

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859. He trained as a doctor at Edinburgh University and it was during this time that he witnessed methods of diagnosis that would later inspire Sherlock Holmes' astonishing methods of deduction. A Study in Scarlet was Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, published in 1887, but it was The Sign of Four, published in 1890, that catapulted him to worldwide fame. From 1891 he wrote short stories about the immortal detective for The Strand magazine. He attempted to kill off Sherlock Holmes in 1893, in The Final Problem, but was forced to revive him after thousands of complaints. Conan Doyle died in 1930 having written two more Sherlock Holmes novels, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear, both serialized in The Strand, and a total of 56 short stories. Not only the master of popular crime fiction, he also wrote the best-selling science fiction novel, The Lost World from the Professor Challenger series.

Review quote

"[T]his new editon of Conan Doyle's novel [A Study in Scarlet] will allow Sherlock fans to discover, or re-discover, the power of that classic story." --"Monsters and Critics"

Back cover copy

The hit BBC series Sherlock has introduced a new generation of fans to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective. The debut episode took as its inspiration Conan Doyle's first Holmes novel, and this new edition of A Study in Scarlet, with an introduction by Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat, allows fans to discover how it all started.
A Study in Scarlet is a potent mix of murder, suspense, cryptic clues, red herrings and revenge. It introduces us to the world-famous characters of Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson and Inspector Lestrade as they join forces for the first time to track a mysterious killed that stalks London's streets.